Monday, January 21, 2013

Smooth Getaway Postcard From Rome Italy

Cramped into a one-hundred-year-old pasticceria
along a narrow section of the Via del
Portoghesi, I watched my frothy cappuccino arrive and take its place beside my chocolate tartufo: a
heavenly over-priced truffle worth every Euro. A good meal is easy to come by here. Italian lessons are nearly as
effortless when you’re immersed in the local environment. This little eatery is a wonderful place to
find both.Recently, I discovered how to
ask for an outside table with extra room for my coffee, laptop and writing
pad. However, this morning, it’s
freezing. Rain is coming in
sideways with hail pelting the canvas above. Hundreds of little pellets pound the back of my head, as water spills
off the awning, saturating my papers and soaking my keyboard. My socks are now sponges and my feet are submerged
in rainwater rushing towards the drain around the corner.

“Sta andando
a piovere oggi?” is Italian for “Is
it going to rain?” I should have
learned that one last night.

Rick Steve, the traveling guru of all things Europe, has stayed in
every hotel or hostel and eaten his way across Italy for almost forty
years. His books have guided me in over a dozen European cities, from Amsterdam to Athens. Once I
discovered that he had moved into social media with downloadable iPhone apps, I felt like I’d just won the lotto.

Rick’s app Ancient Rome gives tips on everything from beating long queues to out-of-this-world
restaurants. According to his tip of the day, his favorite trattoria Gino’s is located at “Numero 4 Vicolo
Rossini,” an“easy walk just behind the
Parliament Building.” Parliament was the ideal landmark, because I just happened to be standing
in front of it.

Ancient
Rome’s city map is sort of a crude charcoal drawing. Yet, that seemed to matter little. Rick promised it
would be “worth the journey.” The map showed the restaurant sandwiched in-between the Spanish Steps and the Pantheon,
directly in-line with the Roman Parliament. The app assured me it was easy to find. It wasn’t.

After an hour of walking in circles around Rome’s legislative offices, I
began to attract the attention of the Italian police. I was so absorbed in looking for Numero 4 Vicolo Rossini that I
didn’t realize I’d been stalking the home of the Italian
government, yelling into a GPS device while wearing dark sunglasses and toting
a backpack. It was the first time I’d
ever been asked to “Present papers!” Rick’s counsel on food and lodging is greatly appreciated, but his artistic mapping prowess leaves much to be desired.

Sprawled across the marble steps of an adjacent piazza, I opened my
travel book, unfolded a Disney-sized city map, and typed Gino’s address on my
iPhone. Studying everything in front of
me, as if I were planning the invasion of a beachhead, I realized I had nothing
to worry about. After all, entire continents have been discovered by folks who got
themselves lost.

I fired Rick Steve and hired Steve Jobs. The bouncing blue dot on my iPhone now
plotted a new course and pinged its way along with every step I took. Within ten minutes, the dot stood still,
announcing my arrival. Before
me was a mountain of bricks stacked ten meters high. No door. No food. Just mortar. Peeking around the corner, I noticed a concrete
marker reading Gino's - Numero 4 Vicolo
Rossini that protruded from a small cave-like opening in the same wall. My quest was complete.

Vicolo
Rossini isn’t on a map. Most likely,
because Gino’s sits in the middle of a twisted alleyway less than twelve meters
long. The abutting buildings loom so close that one needs to turn sideways to avoid oncoming people. As I made my way towards the entrance, an eighty-one-year-old with a shock of curly white hair resting atop his collar stood up to greet me. This was Gino. His smile was identical to the younger one
staring out from the black and white photo on the wall.

Reservations are normally required and there wasn’t an empty seat in sight. Still, I explained in my egregious Italian that I
had journeyed almost two hours, gotten myself lost, and was only “una persona!” Gino smiled and patted me on the back. To my surprise, he warmly ushered me inside like a long lost family member. Within seconds, he prepared a table for me out of nowhere.

Like a 1940s movie star having dinner at the Brown Derby, I watched the patrons who failed to call ahead get turned away. With a shoulder shrug and slight tilt of my head, I
stared at all those forlorn faces with an “I’m-sorry-but-I-got-here-before-you-did” look on my face, while mountains of
warm fresh-baked breadcrumbs fell into my lap.

A former haunt for local politicians, Gino’s is a typical Roman-style,
family-run, cash-only business. With
just over a dozen tables, I counted over sixty occupied seats – a gridlock of diners crammed together, talking with their hands,
laughing at each other, asserting political views loudly, and
causing such ruckus that it was nearly impossible to hear myself think. The kitchen was so close I could hear the clinking of the plates and
silverware, as if I were washing the dishes myself. I could make out the churning cylinders of
the meat-slicer. Closing my eyes, I imagined thinly-shaved layers of
proscuitto piling up beneath the blade.

I heard the whistle of steam, signaling to a chef the Cappelletti
was ready to serve. I noted the popping of corks from bottles of Barolo
being opened behind a centuries-old wall. The ceilings in the cavernous expanse were arched and frescoed with
cheery-looking cherubs on brightly-colored backgrounds of an ageless
Rome. The edges of the archways were outlined
with smoothly-curved planks of cedar, each one picking up where the last one ended. Children ran between the tabletops with just enough room for their tiny frames
to squeeze through. They showed off their coloring skills to those eating and beamed
with delight as everyone marveled at how they managed
to stay within the lines. This was authentic Rome - a blending of chaotic noises into one glorious chord.

As Gino shuffled around the room, grating cheese and
pouring wine, his son Anthony and daughter Giata took orders, cleaned
tables, and replaced the cutlery. His ten-year-old great-granddaughter Theresa was perfecting
the art of hostessing. To each new
customer, she gave a hospitable greeting. Then she ever-so-slightly grimaced, bit down on a colored
pencil, carefully studied the room, and strutted her way to a
table no larger than a school desk. Like jamming square pegs into round holes, Theresa somehow managed
to find a space for each patron. She obviously took
her job seriously.

Anthony performed a well-choreographed series of bobs and weaves around the tables, as if in a limbo contest. Zigzagging his way towards the kitchen, he gripped a dozen wine glasses by the stems. Each arm
passed over the unsuspecting heads of diners by mere inches. No one noticed a thing. Not a single conversation stopped. Not a hair was grazed nor a single glass broken.

After the meal, I stepped outside, sad that
dinner was over but delighted by the experience. Heading back to my hotel, I heard Gino
calling from behind. “Tornare Domani!” (“Come
back tomorrow!”) “Noi siamo stranieri piu!” (“We are strangers
no more.”) It was the most fabulous meal I had ever eaten.Dan Beckmann is a photographer, writer, and journalist who lives in Orlando Florida. He worked as a cameraman, producer, and editor with the Today Show at NBC News, traveling extensively throughout the Middle East, Europe, and Africa from their Tel Aviv and Jerusalem Bureaus. His work has been featured on the BBC, Sky, Reuters, Discovery Channel and Nat Geo, plus he contributes regular columns to the Orlando Sentinel.

Hello! This is a good read. Keep it up! I will be looking forward to visit your page again and for your other posts as well. Thank you for sharing your thoughts about tour rome italy. I'm glad to stop by your site and know more about tour Rome Italy.The Roman Empire had begun more formally when Emperor Augustus (63 BC–AD 14; known as Octavian before his throne accession) founded the Principate in 27 BC. This was a monarchy system which was headed by an emperor holding power for life, rather than making himself dictator like Julius Caesar had done, which had resulted in his assassination on 15 March 44 BC. At home, Emperor Augustus started off a great programme of social, political and economic reform and grand-scale reconstruction of the city of Rome. The city became dotted with impressive and magnificent new buildings, palaces, fora and basilicae. Augustus became a great and enlightened patron of the arts, and his court was attended by such poets as Virgil, Horace and Propertius. His rule also established the Pax Romana, a long period of relative peace which lasted approximately 200 years. Following his rule were emperors such as Caligula, Nero, Trajan, and Hadrian, to name a few. Roman emperor Nero was well known for his extravagance, cruelty, tyranny, and the myth that he was the emperor who "fiddled while Rome burned" during the night of 18 to 19 July 64 AD. The Antonine Plague of 165–180 is believed to have killed as much as one-third of the population.“Accessible Rome” tour for wheelchair users and the physically disabled.

"Fresh Wind & Strange Fire is smart, divertido, and so cleansing that I think I can defer a trip to Catemaco for a limpieza!" Tony Cohan, Author of On Mexican Time and Mexican Days

"Funny, literary, and hard-hitting. Professor Fuchs combines the humor of Twain, the alpha adventure of Hemingway, and the romantic sensitivity of Steinbeck. Just wish I was the one publishing it." John Kemmerly, Editor of Bluefoot Publishing

"I'm about half way through Fresh Wind & Strange Fire. A great read so far! Especially like the witty play on words. Good stuff!" Roz Savage, National Geographic Adventurer of the Year and first woman to solo row the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans.

"No one since Hunter S. Thompson has loved the wild and woolly world with as much intensity, insight, passion and gusto as Lyn Fuchs in his new collection of travel writing Sacred Ground & Holy Water. From Africa, Central America, India, the Pacific Northwest, and back again, Lyn´s rambunctious dispatches from the far corners of our strange globe arrive with the full force of whitewater plunging from mountains, lava burning the very soles from our hiking boots. So delicious are the bountiful meals he eats, so beautiful the foreign lasses he dallies with, nothing is left for the reader but a searing jealousy, an aching desire to be out there ourselves. Thompson, rest his soul, would be proud." Tony D´Souza, Author of Whiteman, The Konkans, and Mule

"An extraordinary travelogue. Lyn Fuchs seems to be up for anything and is an exhausting companion. I feel as if I have been bumped round the world in a week, waking only for the occasional surreal encounter, before bouncing on in a cloud of wacky ideas." John Gimlette, Author of At the Tomb of the Inflatable Pig: Travels in Paraguay, Theatre of Fish: Travels in Newfoundland and Labrador, and Panther Soup: A European Journey in War and Peace

"Alternating between profundity and lunacy, Lyn Fuchs delivers a highly readable romp in his own search for the meaning of the universe." Sean O'Reilly, President and Founder of Auriga Distribution Group, Redbrazil.com, Riverinthesky, & Travelers' Tales

"I found Sacred Ground & Holy Water quite a tonic - a mixture of enjoyment and irreverence. Many teachers say that enlightenment doesn't come to those who deliberately set out to find it. If you are open, it finds you. One of the main feelings I got from this book is that Lyn Fuchs is an open traveler." Ben Box, Author of Footprint Travel Guides

"Five Stars! Fuchs is a deft raconteur, and he shows he can paint a compelling romantic description: 'While the northern turning leaves mark the passing of years and urge productivity, the southern rolling waves hint of changeless eons and instill contentment.' Give credit to Fuchs for getting his point across. As he writes, 'Like it or not, all cultures are forever changing and forever changed.' Globalization is impacting Mayan culture in Guatemala, for example. Traditional local celebrations are turning tacky and curious. Yet, Fuchs offers valuable insights into people and how culture is changing for good and bad. Lovers of travel should heed his advice to visit once-classic cultures before they disappear forever." Gary Klinga, Reviewer at ForeWord Reviews

"Instead of your typical guidebook tour, Lyn Fuchs looks up (always the best view). He says what he's thinking in his mind and reflects not just on what he's seeing but the big picture: how religion is presented, how people act/react, what people are wearing. It's fascinating - sort of a social anthropologist, but only the interesting stuff. I loved this book." Andy Hayes, Editor of Sharing Travel Experiences

"I loved how raw and honest this book is. I picked this up to read for awhile on a Saturday night before tossing a movie in the DVD player. Needless to say, I never made the movie. I read this whole book, start to finish, right then." Mystee Blackwood, Reviewer at GoodReads Reviews

"A uniquely witty and perceptive take on Mexico - Fresh Wind & Strange Fire again shows Lyn Fuchs to be not just a mere travel writer, but also a practical philosopher a la Montaigne, with a dash of Henry Miller's American humor and sexuality." Rick Skwiot, Author of Sleeping With Poncho Villa, Death In Mexico, and San Miguel De Allende, Mexico: Memoir of a Sensual Quest For Spiritual Healing

"This book is a gem and I highly recommend it. The writing is top-notch with just enough snark to make his anecdotes fun. I had a hard time putting this book away." Barry Huddleston, Reviewer at Gnostalgia Book Reviews

"Lyn Fuchs succeeds in his mission to get men attracted to reading spiritual literature. That too admirably! Spicy writing with a strong male perspective with more than an ample dash of wit and humour make Sacred Ground & Holy Water a very enjoyable read." Shweta Ganesh Kumar, CNN Correspondent and Travel Journalist

"Fresh Wind & Strange Fire is just as the title suggests: fresh, original and passionate. Fuchs grips the reader, from beginning to end, with his historical detail, humor and socio-political anecdotes. This is a must read for anyone who lives in or aspires to travel extensively thoughout Mexico." Deanna Proach, News Blaze

"The writing in Fresh Wind & Strange Fire is almost poetic and the history, philosophy and comedy reek of the human spirit in Mexico. I feel privileged to have read this work as it fulfilled everything I want out of a book. Comedy, suspense and self-reflection. This work demonstrates all of these, and the exemplary writing grasps the 'show, don't tell' philosophy that many writers fail to practice." Jairus Reddy, Publisher at Hobbes End Publishing

"Fresh Wind & Strange Fire is earthy, raw and vibrant. It has the B. Traven authenticity with a Hunter S. Thompson fire. The stories are graphic and well-written. They show you a side of Mexican society that most foreigners and many Mexicans will never know - sometimes seamy, sometimes just alive and real. The author spins his tales with well-written prose and vivid description. Individual cities and towns are highlighted, but more as a backdrop for the human stories. I know nearly all the places the author mentions (except for the dark sides, which I do not know) and he does a good job summing up the atmosphere of the towns. This book is not for those with sensitive imaginations. Some may even find it disturbing. But if you can read graphic modern detective novels and watch modern crime shows, you should enjoy it." Mexico Mike Nelson, Author of Live Better South of the Border

"Sacred Ground & Holy Water is a collection of travel stories, significant events and memorable experiences during the extensive travels of the author, Lyn Fuchs. It seems there has never been a dull moment in Fuchs' travels: from encounters with bears in Yosemite, enduring bone rattling bus journeys in Central America, paddling with orcas, taking part in the Day of the Dead in Mexico, experiencing Samurai in Japan, or simply reflecting on a cockroach that shares his morning shower or a beetle he discovers in his navel. Sacred Ground & Holy Water mixes humor and irony into experiences that can only come from spending a significant part of one's life traveling the world. There are over a dozen "Tales of Enlightenment," all told in memorable humorous prose. This is not classic travel nonfiction where you get lost in detailed descriptions of people or place. It reads more like a narrative equivalent of channel surfing - simply skipping to the most memorable parts of someone's personal memoirs." Matt Scott, Reviewer at Matador Travel Network

"Gonzo tourist Fuchs's account of way-off-the-beaten-path Mexico makes Anthony Bourdain appear reserved. His approach style is primitive and organic, with no first-world intercession or assistance. Only three pages in and he's solicited a fake passport, trial-and-errored peyote dosage, and had a tooth extracted with wincing crudeness by a "dentist." While he's more author Hunter S. Thompson than travel guide Rick Steves, and certainly sensational in his gleefully gritty pursuit of the real Mexico, he's not exploitive, cloying, or insincere and more often than not he reveals with acuity and bite a talent for finding the conceit (with prickling quotability). Though not your standard travel guide - no maps, agenda, index, or even photos are in this book - it is nonetheless vivid, and illuminatingly dense with lost histories of an unconsidered culture. Fuchs rambles (sometimes escaping) from Mayan and Mixtec barrios and villages to cities and towns, and opens up to everything from mafiosos and mystics to moles and iguanas. Fuchs offers unpredictable reading, recommended to those who like travel to challenge their perspective." Benjamin Malczewski, Library Journal